1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a print control apparatus for performing a printing process by overlaying predetermined form data and print information which is inputted, a form data processing method of the print control apparatus, and a storage medium in which a computer readable program has been stored.
2. Related Background Art
Hitherto, in case of printing by overlaying certain data (hereinafter, referred to as form data) to a job of a plurality of pages (hereinafter, such a print is called an overlay print), a printer driver in a host computer for controlling a function to overlay and print by a printer has been proposed.
The form overlay function using the form data is a function for registering form data comprising a macro as a number into the printer (macro registration) and designating the registration number by a page using the registered form data (macro execution).
Hitherto, there are two specifications as such a form overlay function using the macro data.
First, in the first specification, in one job, a plurality of macros are first registered in a lump, a designation of the registration number as a macro execution and a raster development of the macro are subsequently performed on a page unit basis, and a deletion of the form data (deletion of the macros) is executed at the end of a job.
In the second specification, the macros are registered on a page unit basis, the raster development is performed by the macro execution, and the macros are deleted.
In LIPS language (registered trademark by Canon Inc.), as mentioned above, the above two specifications are supported and are switched in accordance with a using method. For example, when a form file of xe2x80x9c*.ls4xe2x80x9d is selected from a setting sheet of a property of a printer driver, commands are generated by the first specification. In case of printing from an application, for example, xe2x80x9cFormcraft Pro. (registered trademark by Canon Inc.)xe2x80x9d having the form overlay function, commands are generated in the second specification.
As disclosed in JP-A-10-285421 (Japanese Patent Application No. 09-286969), there is a printer driver having a function for, in case of printing, automatically discriminating a color processing mode such that a color print/monochromatic print is performed on a page unit basis or a job unit basis.
To control the conventional overlay printing function from a host computer, although it is sufficient to transfer form data only once, a drawing process of the form data is necessary every page on the printer side, so that there are problems such that a load increases more and an advantage due to the mere reduction of the overlap transfer time of the form data cannot be effected and enough performance cannot be derived.
It is generally considered according to the printer that the macro deletion is performed at the end of the job, so that in case of performing the macro deletion in the second specification, there is a printer such that a process of next data is not performed until waiting for a paper ejection of the current page. In a printer for performing the printing process on a job unit basis, it depends on a low throughput based on the specification of the printer in which after waiting for the paper ejection at the end of the job, a data analysis of a next job is executed.
For example, in the current overlay printing function, since a color mode (color/mono) of the overlay form data which is formed is unconditionally determined, if the color mode of the data to be printed differs from the color mode of the overlay form data to be overlaid, the overlay print cannot be performed.
Therefore, in the case where the overlay print is performed in a color processing mode automatic discriminating process for automatically discriminating the color/mono mode on a page unit basis, there is a situation such that the print is stopped at a page in which the color mode of the data to be printed and the color mode of the overlay form data to be overlaid are different and the overlay print cannot be performed for all of the data. Thus, the user obtains an unexpected print result.
The invention is made to solve the foregoing problems and it is the first object of the invention to provide an information processing apparatus having a printer driver such that when using an overlay function of a printing apparatus, in the case where a form cache can be used in the printing apparatus, by generating commands by skipping overlap processes such as registration of form data, generation of a form raster image based on the form data, deletion of the form data, and the like, a printing process of a high throughput is controlled and to provide an information processing method of such an information processing apparatus and a storage medium in which a computer readable program has been stored.
The second object of the invention is to provide a print control apparatus such that when an overlay function is used on the basis of form data which is obtained from a data processing apparatus, by skipping the overlap processes such as registration of the form data, generation of a form raster image based on the form data, deletion of the form data, and the like, the overlapped vain data processes at the time of a form overlay printing process using the same form data which is derived from the data processing apparatus are eliminated, and a throughput can be remarkably improved and to provide a form data processing method for such print control apparatus and a storage medium in which a computer readable program has been stored.
The third object of the invention is to provide a print control apparatus such that when form data which is obtained from a data processing apparatus is registered, by identifying the form data which is overlappingly used over a plurality of pages and by skipping the overlap processes such as registration of the form data, generation of a form raster image based on the form data, deletion of the form data, and the like, the overlapped vain data processes at the time of a form overlay printing process using the same form data which is derived from the data processing apparatus are eliminated, a form overlay print processing efficiency of an output job that is inputted and the form raster image that is generated from the form data is raised, and a throughput can be remarkably improved and to provide a form data processing method for such print control apparatus and a storage medium in which a computer readable program has been stored.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a print control apparatus which communicates with a data processing apparatus through a predetermined communication medium and can analyze an output job that is received, comprising: registering means for registering a plurality of form data which is transferred from the data processing apparatus into a memory; generating means for analyzing the form data registered in the memory by the registering means and generating a form raster image which is form-overlaid to each page of the output job; deleting means for deleting the form data registered in the memory by the registering means; setting means for setting the number of holding pages to be held in the memory every form data when each form data is registered into the memory; designating means for designating the form data which is used from the form data registered in the memory; and control means for skipping the registration of the same form data which is used by continuous pages into the memory by the registering means and the deletion of the registered same form data from the memory by the deleting means except for the designation of the form data by the designating means until the number of holding pages set by the setting means exceeds the number of print output pages.
According to a second aspect of the invention, the print control apparatus comprises: discriminating means for discriminating whether the same form data as the form data that is designated by the designating means has already been registered in the memory or not; and skip designating means for, when it is determined by the discriminating means that the same form data has already been registered in the memory, performing a skip designation to sequentially skip the registration of the same form data that is used in the continuous pages into the memory and the deletion of the registered same form data from the memory except for the designation of the form data by the designating means, wherein the control means skips the registration of the same form data that is used in the continuous pages into the memory by the registering means and the deletion of the registered same form data from the memory by the deleting means on the basis of the skip designating state by the skip designating means.
According to a third aspect of the invention, the print control apparatus has registration control means for downloading a plurality of form data accumulated in a specific area that is designated in memory resources at the time of the transfer of the form data from the data processing apparatus when a power source is turned on and for registering them into the memory.
According to a fourth aspect of the invention, there is provided a print control apparatus which communicates with a data processing apparatus through a predetermined communication medium and can analyze a page job or an output job that is received, comprising: registering means for registering color or monochromatic form data which is transferred from the data processing apparatus into a memory; generating means for analyzing the color or monochromatic form data registered in the memory by the registering means and generating a form raster image which is form-overlaid to each page of the output job; discriminating means for discriminating whether a color mode in the output job or page job coincides with a color mode of the form data or not before the raster image is generated by the generating means; changing means for changing a discrimination unit about the color mode by the discriminating means from a page unit to a job unit; and control means for controlling a form overlay print executing state on the basis of a discrimination result by the discriminating means.
According to a fifth aspect of the invention, there is provided an information processing apparatus which communicates with a print control apparatus through a predetermined communication medium and generates a job to be transmitted, comprising: discriminating means for discriminating whether a form raster image of form data which is used in the job has been held in the print control apparatus or not; and command issue control means for skipping a form execution command to execute a process to raster-generate the form data to the form raster image in the case where the form raster image has been held in the print control apparatus and issuing a form designation command.
According to a sixth aspect of the invention, the information processing apparatus further comprises obtaining means for obtaining information from the print control apparatus.
According to a seventh aspect of the invention, when information showing that the print control apparatus can hold the form raster image is obtained by the obtaining means, the discrimination by the discriminating means is performed.
According to an eighth aspect of the invention, when information showing that the print control apparatus cannot hold the form raster image is obtained by the obtaining means, the command issue control means issues a form execution command to execute a process to raster-generate the form data into the form raster image.
According to the ninth aspect of the invention, when the page in which the form data to be used in the job should be executed is processed, if the form data has been executed in the previous page, the discriminating means determines that the form raster image of the form data has been held in the print control apparatus.
According to a tenth aspect of the invention, there is provided an information processing apparatus which communicates with a print control apparatus through a predetermined communication medium and can generate a job to be transmitted, comprising: auto color mode instructing means for discriminating a color used in print data constructing the job on a page unit basis and instructing an auto color mode to allow a color processing mode in the print control apparatus to be decided on a page unit basis; overlay instructing means for instructing a form overlay print; and control means for allowing the auto color mode by the auto color mode instructing means to be determined as a color processing mode on a job unit basis in the case where the form overlay print is instructed by the overlay instructing means.
According to an eleventh aspect of the invention, the information processing apparatus further comprises generating means for generating the print data in accordance with a print request.
According to a twelfth aspect of the invention, the information processing apparatus further has: discriminating means for discriminating whether a color mode of the print data coincides with a color mode of the form data or not in the case where the form overlay print is instructed by the overlay instructing means and the print data is generated by the generating means; and control means for controlling whether the generating process of the print data by the generating means is continued or interrupted on the basis of a discrimination result by the discriminating means.
Further another aspect of the invention is applied to a method of realizing the above construction and a storage medium in which a computer readable program has been stored.